About Us

Our Missions

To reach our community with the Gospel while building up the body of Christ.

Our Values

"...The testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God..."- 2 Cor. 1:12

Simple

Sincere

Spiritual

A Brief History


Grace Baptist Church in Coatesville, IN was organized March 29, 1992. It was formed by people with pioneering spirits to reach lost souls & burdened hearts and to hold forth God’s Word in an atmosphere that would encourage personal growth and church-wide involvement as people-helpers.

The original charter, with twenty-five people present, reads as follows:
We, the undersigned, guided as we believe by the Holy Spirit and relying upon His continued guidance and blessing of the triune God, do here and now, by this act constitute ourselves a New Testament church to administer His ordinances, advance His worship, encourage Christian fellowship, and to be governed by His will as revealed in the New Testament and to that end affix our signature to this charter.

On November 1, 1992, five acres of land were purchased on South State Road 75, which is the church’s present location. Tragedy struck in June 1998 when our church was destroyed by arson. The Lord was faithful and our people drew even closer together - what man meant for evil, God meant for good. Through the Lord’s mercy and grace, He helped us rebuild our church, remaining debt free and making it even larger than before the fire. We thank God for His providence and for allowing us to minister to and bring His Word to our community.

What We Believe



New Title

Statement of Faith

  • 1. God

    We believe in one God, the Maker, Preserver, and Ruler of all things, and eternally existing, manifested in three personal distinctions known respectively as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory, and having the same attributions and perfections.

  • 2. Jesus Christ- His person and work

    We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man. (John l:l-3; Luke 1:35)

  • 3. Holy Spirit - His person and work

    We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person who convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment; and that He is the supernatural agent in the new birth, indwelling and sealing unto the day of redemption.

  • 4. Holy Scriptures

    We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be the verbal, plenary, inspired Word of God, the final authority for faith, doctrine, and practice, inerrant in the original writings, preserved throughout all ages, infallible and God-breathed, holding to a literal interpretation. 

  • 5. Depravity of Mankind

    We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God and by the direct act of God but that through Adam’s sin the entire human race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God. We believe man is totally depraved and utterly unable to remedy this lost condition. 

  • 6. Salvation

    We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, Whose precious blood was shed on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. 

  • 7. Eternal Security and Assurance of the Believer

    We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God's power and are thus secure in Christ forever. 

  • 8. The Believer

    The Believer's New Nature. We believe that every saved person possesses two natures, with provision made for victory of the new nature over the old nature through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit and that all claims to the eradication of the old nature in this life are unscriptural. 

  • 9. The Ministry and Spiritual Gifts

    We believe that God is sovereign in the bestowment of all His gifts; that the gifts of evangelists, pastors, and teachers are sufficient for the "perfecting of the saints" today; and that God does hear and answer the prayer of faith in accord with His own will for the sick, needy, and afflicted. Prophesying and the giving of knowledge beyond that revealed in Scripture ceased as the New Testament Scriptures were completed. 

  • 10. The Church

    We believe the Church is the body and bride of Christ, Who is the Bridegroom, and it is made up of all born-again persons of this present church age. 

  • 11. The Ordinances

    We believe that the ordinances which are committed to the local church are baptism and the Lord's Supper.

  • 12. The Personality of Satan

    We believe that God created the angel Lucifer, who through the sin of pride became Satan, the author of sin and the cause of the fall; that he is the open and declared enemy of God and man; and that he shall be eternally punished in the lake of fire. 

  • 13. The Eternal State

    We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life, and unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment. 

  • 14. The Lord's Day

    We believe that the first day of the week is to be observed as the Lord's Day and is a day of rest for Christian fellowship, worship and communion with God. 

  • 15. Civil Government

    We believe that the civil government is of divine appointment for the interest and good order of human society. We believe magistrates are to be prayed for, conscientiously honored, and obeyed except in things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the only Lord of the conscience, and the Prince of the kings of the earth. 

  • 16. The Second Coming and Advent of Christ

    We believe in that "Blessed Hope", the personal, imminent, pre-tribulation and premillennial coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His redeemed ones; and in His subsequent return to earth, with His saints, to establish His millennial kingdom. 

  • 17. Marriage and Sexuality

    We believe the term “marriage” has only one meaning, that being marriage sanctioned by God which joins one man and one woman in a single exclusive union as delineated in Scripture. We believe God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. We believe any form of sexual immorality is sinful and offensive to God, such as adultery, fornication, homosexuality, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, pornography, any attempt to change one’s sex, or disagreement with one’s biological sex.

Our Staff

Bert Bunner, Pastor

Pastor Bert has been the pastor of Grace Baptist Church since June of 2014. 


Bert grew up in Jasper, Indiana and graduated from Jasper High School in 1990. Jasper is just a few hours from Coatesville, but our pastor took the long way to get here.

Bert grew up with 2 dreams: to be a soldier and to be a preacher. He kept the latter a secret and pursued the former after high school. Bert loved the army, becoming a paratrooper and serving in the Gulf War in 1991. During his time in the 82nd Airborne Division, he was able to make 42 jumps from an airplane and 1 from a helicopter. He was rather decorated with the Combat Infantryman's Badge, Air Assault and Senior Parachutist Badges, Meritorious Service Medal, and the Army Commendation Medal among his awards. Besides the Gulf War he was deployed to Bosnia twice in the 90s, and was stationed at Ft. Bragg, NC, Baumholder, Germany, and Ft. Campbell, Kentucky. He left the army at the rank of Staff Sergeant (E6).


In 1993, Bert married Candy Fuesler, a friend from his home church. They dated long distance for 3 years until Candy graduated from Pensacola Christian College. Their daughter, Cassandra, was born in North Carolina in 1995 and a year later, their son, Isaac, was born in Germany. 


While stationed in Germany, the Bunners attended a small church right outside the army base. It was through serving in this church, the Lord began to remind him of that dream he had kept a secret. Pastor Bert preached his first sermon from Psalm 101 at the Grace Baptist Church of Baumholder, Germany in 1997. 


In 2000 after he was reassigned to the 101st Airborne Division, the Lord would not let our pastor rest until he had surrendered his life to the Gospel ministry.  He determined not to reenlist and left the army after 11 years in 2001. That spring the Bunners moved to Powell, Tennessee so Bert could attend Crown College of the Bible. "Those were difficult years, but God was faithful and our family learned to trust God and grew closer together."


After graduating in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Pastoral Ministries, the Bunners moved again to their first ministry at the Bethel Baptist Church in Hartselle, Alabama in 2006. Those were precious years where their children grew up in the Christian school. Candy taught 5th and 6th grade and Bert served in various roles as youth pastor, assistant pastor, principal, administrator, teacher, senior saint director, and eventually interim pastor. 


The Bunners' children are grown and married now and live in other states. They enjoy being grandparents and travel to see them as much as possible. Pastor Bert enjoys reading and running, completing his first (and last) marathon when he was 40. He has done several half marathons, some as recently as 2023. He is a lifelong fan of the Dallas Cowboys and was able to attend a game in Dallas in 2006 on Thanksgiving. Bert and Candy travel more now than they ever did, including trips to Israel in 2017, Belize in 2020, and twice to Hawaii. Candy's mom lives with them in their home in Danville.


Lew Hunter, Assistant Pastor

Pastor Hunter was born in Akron, Ohio in 1954 and was raised in a Christian home. His father pastored for nearly fifty years before retiring from active ministry. He grew up in Brunswick, Ohio and graduated from Brunswick High School in 1972.


Following high school he enrolled at Tennessee Temple Bible School in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was during his freshman year that he received Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. It was also at Tennessee Temple that he met his future wife, Pam. Following their graduations in 1975 they were married on July 12 and began their lives of service together. 


In the nearly fifty years Pastor Hunter has been serving the Lord, he has served as a youth pastor, music pastor, Christian school principal, assistant pastor and pastored three churches, one of which he served as the founding pastor. 


Pastor Hunter serves here at Grace Baptist Church as Assistant Pastor and is in charge of the music ministry and the senior adult ministry which is called Young at Heart. Today he also serves as Director of Grace Today Ministries, a ministry of help, encouragement and counseling to other pastors their wives and families. He also consults with other churches.


Pastor and Mrs. Hunter have three children and two granddaughters. Their daughter Kristin lives in Summerville, South Carolina with her husband, Jonathan and their daughters Felicity and Ava. Pastor and Mrs. Hunter’s son Joshua lives in South Dakota and their youngest daughter, Katie who is a special needs young lady, lives with them.


Pastor Hunter’s life verse is I Corinthians 15:10, “But by the grace of God I am what I am…”



Joshua Yerkes, Youth Pastor

Pastor Yerkes has been the served at Grace Baptist Church since October of 2024. 


Kaylie was born in Indianapolis and lived in Indiana for ten years before moving to Florida with her family and then settling in Tennessee for her middle-college years. Josh was born and raised in Port Norris, New Jersey which is about 45 minutes east of Philadelphia and 45 minutes West of Atlantic City. In Fall of 2012, Josh and Kaylie both began attending Crown College in Tennessee. We know that God always works in mysterious ways and although we did not know each other very well we spent time together on a car ride with a friend for Thanksgiving break that fall and attended the choir’s New York City trip. We did not express interest in one another until spring 2013. We dated throughout college and were engaged on May 7th, 2016 and married on June 3rd, 2017. After marrying we moved to Florida so Kaylie could finish up her graduate studies and work as a graduate assistant at PCC, while Josh worked at Abeka. During college, Josh began having a burden for the Northeast and their need for the Gospel. In 2019 God opened an opportunity for us to serve alongside a young pastor at a church outside of NYC.


After serving the youth and ministering in multiple ways for five and a half years at Bible Baptist Church of Elmont, NY, we felt God’s calling us away from New York and the door opened up for us to move to Indiana, to serve alongside Pastor Bert here at Grace. While in New York, the Lord blessed us with three wonderful children Harper, Haddon, and Haven.